Countdown
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: Gift!fic for Sirarie. Lucy/Master. The clock is ticking slowly on them, and Lucy wonders, "Will he ever be free? Should I stop this? Who are we?" and most importantly, "Do I love him?" In the end, the answer she finds is one she knew all along.


Four minutes—or Countdown

Do you hear them? Do you hear the drums?

_No, but for you, I will hear them._

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_**Countdown**_

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**10.** When they first meet, she is surprised he looks twice at her. She knows she isn't the prettiest girl—no, that is her sister, _always her sister_—or the quickest or the smartest (a fact her father continuously points out).

But he looks at her, at _Lucy_, instead of her sister or her friends or anyone.

He _chooses_ her.

It's a fact that she comforts herself with whenever she feels insecure or lonely.

**9. **

There are choices to be made in this world. Lucy knows this and isn't surprised when her husband reveals his plan to her.

The Master, the one who shall destroy life as she knows it, the one who will control all—all fancy titles that reveal what she knows all along.

He is destined for better things.

When he asks her if she is fine with his plan, she immediately smiles and shakes her head.

She might have been the dumb one in her house, but she knows a good offer when she sees one. It is a chance to be by his side.

It is all she ever wants, really.

He might destroy the world and commit atrocious acts of evil.

She is just along for the ride.

**8. **

Sometimes when he looks at her, Lucy swears she sees love in his eyes. An emotion that tells her he'll be by her side, _foreverandeverandever._ At times, he holds her hands and dances around with her, making her feel like a princess in a ball.

Occasionally, he brings her presents—anniversaries, birthdays, he never forgets an important date—and stuns her slightly, before making her smile at him.

"_You're so thoughtful," she says._

"_Anything for __**my**__ Lucy," he replies._

Other times, though, when he looks into her eyes and kisses her, she knows it isn't Lucy he is looking at. He isn't looking at her, he is looking past her.

It isn't his wife that he feels when he holds her hand, keeps her close, or smiles at.

It is _him_. She feels slightly jealous of this '_Doctor_' that he murmurs in his dreams and reflects in his eyes.

It feels like the Doctor captivates him more than she ever does.

**7.**

When he finally reaches his wishes, she looks at his happy face and knows it is worth it. That smile, those shining eyes, everything that she sees on his face reminds her of when they went on their first date.

He was slightly younger then and had a charisma that drew her and others to him immediately. When he took her out, everyone told her how lucky she was.

_(She knew they meant that she'd never get another guy like him, one who would marry her even though she was a plain and average.)_

They went to an ice-cream parlor that day—a little cheap but it felt so special and magical she didn't bother to object. She wouldn't have even if she could.

She never did try to get on his bad side.

After they had started to eat, he told her of his plan on becoming Prime Minster. Others might have scoffed at him, but instead she smiled and told him that if anyone could do it, he could.

He looked a little surprised, but then he laughed. A loud laugh, like a hyena at first, but then it calmed down enough that it only sounded rough—rough like leather and wood, but it wasn't a bad rough.

He smiled then at her, smiling with his eyes and mouth and body, before telling her,

"_You're perfect._"

She has been trying ever since then to see that smile again.

**6.**

It is fitting that he is called "the Master". He might be that he enslaves all of mankind—be it the futuristic humans, or their past selves, but that isn't the reason.

Not even the fact that he manages to control all and is trying to gain the universe explains why Master fits so perfectly with him.

No, it is that even if she sometimes disagrees or feels like leaving him, she knows she won't.

She can't.

She never tries to go against his wishes for he has complete control over her _mind__**heart**__soul_. When he is happy, she is happy. When he is sad, she is sad.

It is simple. He is the puppet master who plays with her strings.

However, even the puppet feels tired sometimes.

**5.**

After they had finally gain control of Earth, she hopes that he might stop talking about the Doctor as much. She is only a woman, and it makes her jealous that she never can have him like the Doctor does.

For a period of time, she finally thinks he does get over the Doctor. Lucy and the Master dance around the room, dressing up in fancy clothes and eating the finest foods available. They have the best entertainment, the best furniture, the best of everything.

She believes it is no longer the Doctor, the Master, and Lucy. For a while, she believes it is the Master and Lucy. Just the two of them. Doing whatever they feel like doing, _together._

It is a foolish dream that shatters all too quickly. Maybe she never did fully believe that the Doctor left his crazed, obsessed mind.

Maybe she knew all along that it would always be the Doctor and the Master, and tag-along-sometimes-there-sometimes-_not_ Lucy.

**4.**

Lucy doesn't pray much. She used to, once upon a time, but after a while she stopped.

_(She grew tired of wishing for things that never came true, of the angels that ignored her.)_

She never does fully stop believing in god, though, for the Master becomes one to her.

When she sees those humans, that _Martha,_ talking about prayers and the belief that if they all do it, something good mightmaybe_hopefully_ will happen, she scoffs at them.

However, there is a look in Martha's eyes that makes Lucy think twice about it. A look of desperation and sadness and worry, but most of all, _hope._ A shining beam that hooks her for a moment.

Lucy still doesn't believe in prayers. However, she wonders that if she believes enough, like they do, that maybe the Doctor will leave _his_ mind—after her husband is defeated soundly and realizes that he can't win—and that maybe it can be just the two of them, like it once was.

_(She ignores how there __**never**__ was a 'just-the-two-of-them')_

She screws her eyes shut and whispers, "Doctor"

Miracles might happen, but she'll never admit they exist.

**3.**

She is the most faithful of wives, and Lucy knows that. She knew that ever since she was born, the ones she trusts are the ones she'll follow forever.

That's why she never scoffed at his plan. That's why she allowed millions to die around her.

He is her plan, her utopia, her everything, and she'd rather screw reality than to make him lose his trust in her.

However, it happens the other way around. _She_ loses her trust in _him_.

Maybe it isn't her trust, exactly, that is lost.

It's more like the shield that allows her to endure so much cracks a little.

Even after he is defeated, "Doctor" is still on his lips and "Victory" still on his mind. There is little room for "Lucy" anywhere there.

And now she won't be able to see him again.

When she hears that, she hesitates for a second before picking up the gun.

It might hurt her to shoot him, but it'll hurt more not to.

**2.**

The Master isn't sure what about Lucy it was that caught his eyes. Maybe it was her hair or her manners, or even her clothes. It could have been any of those things, but the moment she shoots him, he knows what it was that attracted him the most.

It is her eyes. Her eyes that are a kaleidoscope. No matter how many times he hurt them—sometimes intentionally, sometimes not—they always end up going back to the same patterns, the same _IloveMasterIneedMasterI'llhelpMaster_.

They are always focused on him and that helped him focus on his plans.

He is always in her spotlight and wanted to make her realize what she had agreed to.

Eventually, he idly wonders if he could love her. Maybe, had he not been so sidetracked by war and death and those drums, _thoseneverendingdrums_, he would have fallen for her.

He thinks he fell for her a little, at least. For her eyes, definitely. They captured him.

She's the only human he wants alive in the end but immortality means she'll die eventually and leave him alone.

He decides to die when he gets hit. Maybe he can have another chance with her and realize fully what those eyes of hers can do.

Either way, her shooting him is even more evidence of her focus.

She saves him from torment, frees him from his captivity.

She is still his faithful wife, giving him what he wants.

**1.**

She picks up his ring, rolling it in her palm for a moment. It's still slightly warm from the fire—and from his skin, she imagines.

Lucy doesn't cry when she knows he's gone forever _(and why didn't he just come back to life, like he said he could?)_ for that is what she caused and he always told her to never cry.

He's dead, though, a word that she can't understand for that means no more sweet kisses and treats and lovely waltzes in the moonlight.

No more of anything. She still has the ring, though; all that's left of him and her, all that proves there was once a man that she loved—_loves_.

She can hear the drums now, calling for her death.

(She wonders if he's waiting for her, but then shakes the absurd thought out of her mind. It doesn't matter, for in the end, it is her who will wait for him.)

**0. **

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**A/N:** HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIRARIE! Here is your Master/Lucy you asked for!

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Oh, and I only watched those two episodes, so I decided to ignore the other characters.


End file.
